After much speculation about who would purchase Frieze, one of the world’s premiere art fairs, it turned out that the call was coming from inside the house.
Ari Emanuel, 64, the former chief executive behind the sports and entertainment conglomerate Endeavor, which currently owns the Frieze fair and its signature magazine, announced on Thursday that he was setting up a new company, as yet unnamed, to purchase Frieze.
Endeavor recently announced a similar deal for its basketball representation business — all part of the complicated hurdles to completing a take-private deal with the investment company Silver Lake, a longtime financial backer of Endeavor. At its acquisition, Endeavor, including its debt, was valued at $13 billion in April 2024. (Endeavor was taken private this past March.)
